No. The only change would be if Slovakia reaches the final, they'd overtake U.S and that group would shift, but that seems to be what the groups will look like come February 2014. I hope Finland loses thus giving a good group in my opinion, and it saves a game versus Russia for a knockout game.

Actually they mostly matter in who you will likely meet in the knockout rounds.

For example Russia or the US are likely to get an early date with Canada.

This is all hypothetical but the way I see it is, whoever wins between Canada and Finland in 2014 will potentially have a matchup in the quarters against one of(norway,belarus,swiss,germany,latvia...etc) meaning IF they move on, the earliest they would face a top 5 team is the semis which at least prepares whichever team for it's biggest test.

The format will be the same as 2010, there will be three groups of 4 to determine seeding, with four rounds of elimination games. Each group winner receives a bye into the second round, along with the best second place team.[5]

Yes, I see. According to the Games schedule, Women's Hockey ends on the 17th. Then there is hockey on the 18th, 19th, 21st, 22nd & the Final on the 23rd. So are there 2 QF each day as opposed to all 4 on the same day, or do the QF begin one day after the group stage ends?

The positive thing is that we get to play in the weakest pool of the three pools for Sochi 2014. Finland is the only real test, which should have Rinne. We should have an easy first place finish. Should versus reality are two different things. We should have beaten Slovakia, but that did not turn out well. Hopefully Hockey Canada can get its act together after an early exit. The pools are confirmed below.